Five years ago, Christopher Bell, who had yet to make his Cup debut, ran into NASCAR on NBC analyst Steve Letarte at the Charlotte airport and lamented the NASCAR schedule.
“Man, it would be so cool to change up the schedules and not just go to the same racetracks,” Bell said he told Letarte. “Every first weekend of March, we’re here. First weekend of April, we’re here. It was the same thing over and over again.”
Letarte told him change was coming.
Sunday’s Cup race through the streets of Chicago is one of six points races on this year’s schedule that was not on the 2018 Cup schedule.
Just in the last two years, the Cup Series has:
- Raced inside a stadium (Clash at the Coliseum)
- Raced at track once considered dead (North Wilkesboro)
- Raced on dirt (Bristol)
- And this weekend will race on a street course.
Bell can’t wait to see what’s next.
“I hope there’s more real race venues,” Bell said. “Nashville Fairgrounds keeps getting talked about. North Wilkesboro was a great venue. Rockingham, just new places that maybe we don’t go to every single year.
“I think that the more that we spread out and go to different venues and have a different schedule year in and year out, it’s just going to increase the attraction to the sport.”
That’s a philosophy NASCAR is following.
More new venues are likely to be added in the near future. There’s talk of Cup racing in Montreal. Efforts continue for Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville host NASCAR.
The Clash at the Coliseum showed that NASCAR could race inside a stadium, opening new possibilities. This weekend’s Chicago Street Race gives NASCAR its first experience holding events on city streets and could create more chances to bring the racing to fans in big cities.
Who knows where else NASCAR could race. No idea seems far-fetched.
“Never say never to anything,” Denny Hamlin said.
Like racing in a parking lot?
This was the second year that Formula One raced in a parking lot around the Miami Dolphins’ stadium. It has proved successful. Why couldn’t NASCAR do that at some other stadium? It would be another way to bring to the sport closer to fans of particular cities. Or countries.
“We need to get to Canada and on an oval,” former Cup champion Brad Keselowski said. “I think that particular market is underserved and full of a ton of NASCAR fans.”
Mix in some nostalgia — North Wilkesboro, the likely return to the oval at Indianapolis next year, and, who knows, maybe Rockingham some day? — and the schedule could become even more dynamic.
“It’s always important for us to keep in mind what got us here, or what’s the roots,” reigning Cup champion Joey Logano said. “I think we’ve done a good job, but also evolving with the times. Our sport has always evolved and changed. We need to continue (that), and I think we’ve seen a lot of success for our sport going to venues that we’ve never been to before.”
He’s done well in inaugural events, winning the first Clash at the Coliseum, first dirt race at Bristol and first Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Winning is special, but so is being a part of these events.
“It’s really cool to go to Chicago and say, ‘Hey, I did that,’ to go to the LA Coliseum and say, ‘Hey, I ran well there,’” Justin Haley said.
“It’s just a time in the sport where I feel like if you weren’t in the Cup Series, you’d be so jealous as a race car driver.”
2. Superhuman effort needed
Think about this: Cup and Xfinity drivers only have 50 minutes of practice each on Saturday. In all likelihood, cautions for incidents will take away some of that time, leaving drivers with limited laps on a course they had not seen until this weekend.
Then, they’ll have to qualify. Make one mistake and it could mean starting at the back — or in a backup car. Get it right and a driver could be starting on the front row in a race many agree track position will be critical.
Saturday’s qualifying will provide quite a challenge for drivers.
“You’re going to have your fast cars and your cars that aren’t so fast, but I don’t think anyone is going to be comfortable after 50 minutes of running around that place,” said Ryan Blaney, who won the inaugural race at the Charlotte Roval in 2018. “There’s still things you’re going to want to learn.”
Saturday’s qualifying session in Xfinity (12 p.m. ET Saturday on USA) and in Cup (2:30 p.m. ET Saturday on USA) may be some of the most pressured sessions of the season.
“That’s what’s so cool about this series and this level is that there’s so much pressure involved with everything,” said Ross Chastain, who won last weekend’s race at Nashville Superspeedway and was checking out a portion of the Chicago street course Thursday afternoon.
Such pressure among the things that makes the series enjoyable to Blaney.
“We like things when they’re hard,” he said. “It makes it challenging and that’s kind of what separates really good guys and drivers from the rest of the field.”
Said AJ Allmendinger: “I really do believe it’s going to be about who can unload (off the hauler) and get comfortable the quickest. … Be the most comfortable at being that close to the wall at every apex (of the corner). If you can do that in the short amount of time that we’re going to have, I think you’re definitely going to have an advantage.”
Austin Cindric is ready to embrace the challenge.
“I don’t think I’ve felt stress as an emotion heading into the weekend,” he said. “No matter what the challenges are, someone is still going to win the race. They’re going to give out stage points. They’re going to give out playoff points.
“The way I see it, we’re not doing something that hasn’t been done. We’re just trying to do it bigger in regards to going street course racing.”
3. Challenges for crew chiefs
Yes, a race is a race is a race, but there can still be some differences.
Street racing is not exactly road course racing and there could be nuances crew chiefs will have to adjust to this weekend as they consider strategy.
Saturday’s practice could prove telling for Rodney Childers, crew chief for Kevin Harvick.
“Are we going to be able to pass or not,” Childers said of some of the things he’ll look for in practice. “What are the braking zones going to be like? There’s some going to be some guys better under braking. There’s going to be some guys better on the throttle.”
As for how he looks to this weekend for the No. 4 team, Childers said: “We’re going to have to do our thing of being there all weekend and not tearing the car up and not getting in wrecks during the middle of the race, and, hopefully, pit when maybe some other guys don’t pit and take chances.”
Phil Surgen, crew chief for Ross Chastain, said the key will be understanding the unknowns this weekend.
“Everybody in the industry is kind of in the same boat,” he said. “We just don’t know what to expect. As much communication and reconnaissance that you can do, nobody knows exactly what it’s going to be like until the cars hit the track.
“We’re doing the best we can to mine any bit of information that can help us. Obviously we’re spending some time in the simulators, working through desktop simulations, talking to anybody that could possibly have some feedback for us on street racing.”
Trent Owens, crew chief for Justin Haley, noted that those with connections to IndyCar, which races on street courses, could get some helpful tips.
“I think the from the street course races that I’ve watched, it’d be nice to have some IndyCar teams in your camp to pull off of, but we don’t,” he said.
4. Bumps and braking
Among the keys this weekend will be how bumpy it is in the corners. Hit the bumps while braking and that can send a car into the wall or drift out of the preferred line and be passed.
“I think there’s a potential for (wheel hop) in some of the brake zones, where it gets rough and the back can get light and you can kind of chase it and lock up tires,” Michael McDowell said.
Said Denny Hamlin: “Just the streets, in general, are super bumpy, so it has an effect on the car. It’s going to be a survival thing.”
Chris Buescher, who has scored seven consecutive top-10 finishes on road courses, said the tight and bumpy conditions might keep drivers from being too aggressive.
He notes that at Circuit of the Americas and Indianapolis, which feature plenty of run-off room, drivers are more aggressive and willing to initiate contact while trying to pass in the corners. Chicago’s tight confines and little run-off room may alter that attitude.
Buescher said that if drivers are too aggressive at Chicago, “you will end up with torn up race cars throughout the field. So, it should help everybody kind or rein it back in a little bit.”
5. A spotter’s point of view
Road courses present various challenges for spotters, but a street course is something new for those in the ear of drivers.
NASCAR will have three designated spotter locations throughout the 12-turn, 2.2-mile course in and around Grant Park.
The main spotters stand will be near Turn 1 in the suites. That should allow spotters to call the frontstretch — including pit entrance and pit exit, Turn 1and toward Turn 2. Those spotters also will be able to see the cars when they exit Turn 5 and come toward them to Turn 6.
A second location will have spotters atop a double-decker bus near Turn 3. They should be able to pick the cars up from the exit of Turn 2 and down DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
A third spotter location is a balcony on the ninth floor of the Symphony Center, which is located on South Michigan Avenue near Turn 11. It should provide a view of Turns 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
“It’s going to be new for everybody,” said Tony Hirschman, spotter for Ty Gibbs. “So the more homework we do going in, (the more it will help).”